Favourite Red Lipsticks- Revisited!

It’s been well over a year since I posted ‘My Top 3 Red Lipsticks’ blog. In it, I talked about the 3 most worn/favourite red lipsticks in my arsenal- Natio ‘Rush’, Besame ‘Red Hot Red’, and Limecrime ‘Red Velvet’ Velvetine.

While I still love both the Natio and Besame shades, I would unfortuantley no-longer recommend Limecrime’s ‘Red Velvet’… at least for the time being. Out of all the liquid lipsticks I’ve tried (granted, that’s probably only half a dozen or so), the Velvetines formula was probably my favourite, I even wore it on my wedding day and it survived the our first kiss without transferring.

However there are several things that have since put me off. Firstly on a personal level-– I’ve just decided that I’m not a liquid lipstick person. I prefer creamy lipsticks that don’t dry my lips out and that I can rub and smack my lips together without repercussions.– After loving my first tube and using it all up, I then replaced it with a new one but was disappointed by the fact that it was a completely different shade of red. This seemed to be known issue but no-one could say which shade of red was the mistake. So I was left not knowing if I bought another tube, which colour it would be.

On a more professional level, there is major controversy surrounding the brand. I won’t go into too many details, there is tons on the internet if you want to search for it but I will mention these two recent issues-– The Limecrime website was hacked, customer credit card information was stolen and there seemed to be a long period of time between Limecrime knowing about the hack and actually alerting customers. – Limecrime is listed on the FDA website for having ferric ferrocyanide and ultramarines which are approved for “externally applied cosmetics” but that doesn’t apply to lipsticks since they can be ingested. Limecrime claims that it was a mis-print on the label but considering it’s tumultuous past, I’ve lost all faith in the brand.

Right, now that that’s said and done, let’s move onto which lipsticks I do still love and wholeheartedly endorse!

I wear red lipsticks daily, switching them out every once and a while for a pink shade. All these listed lipsticks are my top favourites which I switch between depending on what I’m feeling on the day or simply whatever is closest to me when rushing to leave the house for work.

As mentioned before, I still ABSOLUTELY LOVE Natio ‘Rush’ (it’s probably my favourite of all time!) and Besame ‘Red Hot Red’ so they remain in my favourites list. But in the last year, I’ve discovered some new favourites that I want to share. I’ve not included Suavecita ‘Victory’ as I’ve recently done a full review but it’s definitely also a favourite.

MAC ‘Russian Red’
I know, I know, I’m a little late to the party. Everyone has always raved about Russian Red so I don’t know why it’s taken me this long to try it. When I took in my 6 empty MAC containers a few months ago to exchange for one of their lipsticks (part of their Back-2-MAC recycling program), I took the opportunity to try Russian Red.
I immediately knew it was a winner after the first application! Russian Red is matte but I still find it creamier as their other matte red ‘Ruby Woo’.

The shade of Russian Red is I guess best described as a ‘true red’. It seems neither too blue nor too orange based and is bright but not overwhelming so. I reach for Russian Red when I’ve got a more sophisticated outfit or I’m wearing darker, deeper reds rather than bright reds.

Le Keux Cosmetics ‘Whistle Bait’Last year I won a Facebook Competition from Victory Parade and when I received the dress I won, it had a few other goodies including a Le Keux Cosmetics lipstick in ‘‘Whistle Bait’.
This lipstick comes in a cute vintage inspired blue pot and you need a lip brush to apply it. This lipstick is marketed to be a 3-in-1 type deal- You can use it to achieve ‘kissed gloss lips, matte all day stay or hollywood lips’ and whilst I agree that these 3 looks can be achieved, I only use it in one way.

Whistle Bait is slightly thinner in consistency than other lipsticks so if you want to a achieve a opaque look, make sure you prep your lips by using a lip liner (cover your lips with the liner, not just your outer lips. This ensures that when you apply the colour with the brush, it’s got already good a good opaque base to it and you will have good saturation of colour.
‘Whistle Bait’ is a wonderfully bright, quite similar to Besame ‘Red Hot Red’ but with more of a glossy sheen. It smells delicious and makes my lips feel super moisturised. Because of it’s more gloss-like texture, it does wear off a little sooner than other lipsticks so always needs a touch up after lunch but I don’t mind that at all.

MAC ‘Diva’
I was after a deeper, richer red that wasn’t too purple nor too brown and ‘Diva’ was recommended by one of the MAC girls when I was shopping in Santa Monica. It’s the perfect deep red shade, exactly what I was after! Like ‘Russian Red’, this shade comes under the ‘matte’ umbrella but is still reasonably creamy and easy to apply.

‘Diva’ is perfect for when I’m feeling like something a little more dramatic or if what I’m wearing has darker burgandys and reds in it. For full intensity, make sure you line your lips first. Because I still want it to be a red colour, I use my bright red Australis Lip Liner underneath, however if you want it a bit darker, try MAC ‘Burgandy’ lip liner.
I’ve also custom mixed ‘Diva’ with ‘Russian Red’ to get a lovely inbetween shade of the two colours.

What’s your absolute favourite shade of red lipstick?

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I’m also a fan of Russian Red, it’s the best! I also use MAC’s Viva Glam I and get compliments on it quite often. 100% of the purchase price goes to AIDS research, so you also do a good deed when you buy it. If I’m going out to a bar and don’t want to worry about touch-ups, I use Stila’s Stay All Day Liquid Lipstick in Beso. It stays on all night and doesn’t dry out my lips the way other lipstains do.

So often a true red is going to look pink unless you really build it up. I use mostly a Australis one but it definitely is pinky. As long as the lipstick has good pigmentation though, I don’t find it matters so much 🙂

MAC Russian Red and Diva are both my go-to colours, usually I wear them together, kind of as an ombre. My lips are a weird shape and I find that a darker shade around the outer edges works better than one solid colour all over 🙂

I also love the Revlon Velvet Chromes in Garnet, nice deep colour, super thick and creamy, with a good amount of shine, and super long lasting!

If you are ever in the business for a good liquid lipstick, I have found Kat Von D’s to be my favorite! I wear them almost every day, they don’t get all balled up and super dry like most of them I have found.

I recently tried Russian Red, now that we have a new MAC counter near me, however for me it was still a little too ‘brick’ so I kept looking. I tried on MAC ‘All Fired Up’ which looked like a very dark pink in the tester – and to my delight it turned out to be my perfect red. It is much redder on the lip than it seemed, but it is a true/pink red, not an orange red. For me, perfect. I’m so happy 😀

It’s a matte! And it’s sooo easy to apply and nondrying in my opinion. I find the applicator and consistency so nice that you can easily line your lips with it before filling it in. It isn’t much of a “lasting” lipstick as it claims.. there’s definitely transfer and smear.. but I guess that’s why it’s not dry either…it’s still longer lasting than regular lipstick. ..and the color – “underage” is Perfect! ( for my skin tone anyway).
Mac Ruby Woo and Kat Von D Underage have the best tones I’ve found so far.. For some reason the stick out the mac always breaks on me :/
I’m definitely interested in trying your recommendation of Natio!

Thank you so much for your reviews. For a person that’s not that knowledgeable in makeup (me) your reviews really help. I just started wearing lipstick recently and didnt know where to start. I received my Sauvecita in victory a few days ago and I LOVE IT. I loved it so much that I decided a to go ahead and purchase the mac russian red because your review was spot on for the Sauvecita lippy. Thanks so much for the help!

For a red lipstick, I absolutely LOVE Urban Decay’s F-Bomb. It’s a true, intense red and super moisturizing. I also love Besame and the Julie Hewitt line carried by PinUp Girl Clothing. They have some lovely reds which are matte but not drying.

Surprisingly, I have received many compliments on my red color CERTAINLY RED Crème Color by REVLON. I’m a medium-brown-colored African-American female, 60’s. None of the paler tones were flattering any longer. So, I tried a staple. RED. It works.